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Arrests Won't Stop Looting Of Antiquities (op-ed)
Jewish Week ^ | Thursday, April 13, 2006 | Hershel Shanks

Posted on 04/13/2006 7:39:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

Eshel's prosecution reflects a movement within the academic community, especially in the United States, to fight looting by ignoring the loot — forbidding it from being bought, exhibited in a museum or published. The idea is that this will stop, or at least reduce, looting, but it is universally agreed that looting is worse than ever. This approach has had absolutely no effect on looting; it has simply driven the trade in looted antiquities underground. Instead of looted antiquities from the West Bank coming into Israel, they now go through Jordan into private collections in East Asia. And the scholarly community never hears about these items... James Cuno, director of the Art Institute of Chicago: "Or what about the Dead Sea Scrolls? We don't know where they were found. Some Bedouin showed up with them. Should people have said, Nope, sorry, we can't touch them?" ...One wonders: If Eshel is guilty, are there other cases? An important Moabite inscription carved in stone recently came onto the antiquities market. The Israel Museum very much wanted it. So New York philanthropist and former hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt purchased it for $350,000 and gave it to the museum as a long-term loan. It is now proudly displayed in the museum. Will Steinhardt be arrested on his next trip to Israel? ...Whatever the outcome of the Eshel case, one thing is clear. No Dead Sea Scrolls will ever turn up in Israel again.

(Excerpt) Read more at thejewishweek.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs

1 posted on 04/13/2006 7:39:35 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: blam; FairOpinion; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; ...
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

2 posted on 04/13/2006 7:39:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv; kiki04; Kolokotronis; MarMema; kosta50; wrathof59; katnip; FormerLib; ezfindit; ...
The most significant example of looting is the Parthenon Frieze callously called the "Elgin Marbles" by some after the looter himself.


Return Them!!!

museum security

parthenonUK

elginism

Vote to return

3 posted on 04/13/2006 3:38:38 PM PDT by eleni121 ('Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!' (Julian the Apostate))
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To: eleni121

"Elgin Marbles"? The Parthenon Marbles, please!

Some years back, She Who Must Be Obeyed and some of her friends went off to London for a few days of sightseeing and shopping. Naturally they went to the British Museum. When they came to the room where the Marbles are displayed, she asked in a loud voice "Elgin, Elgin? Who is this Elgin? A drunken miserable thief, that's who!"

She was asked to leave. I am very proud of her! :)


4 posted on 04/13/2006 5:06:49 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: Kolokotronis
"She" was absolutely right on the characterization of Elgin as a thief. He and his fellow bandits - the Muslim Turks - who continue to support the international thievery of antiquities - are indeed "drunken miserable thieves"!!!
5 posted on 04/13/2006 5:12:31 PM PDT by eleni121 ('Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!' (Julian the Apostate))
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_15/04/2006_68695

Experts in awe of antiquity stash

The massive collection of illegal antiquities uncovered by authorities on the tiny Aegean island of Schinoussa is unique and probably the largest ever seen in Greece, police told Kathimerini yesterday.

Policemen and archaeologists were still combing through artifacts at the villa of an unnamed woman from a wealthy shipping family. The raid came after a search of her home in Athens, where more antiquities were found.

“I have never seen such unique items before in my life. I do not think I will ever handle such a big case again during my career,” an officer from the Antiquities Department of the Attica Police, who preferred not to be named, told Kathimerini.

Among the most impressive items found on Schinoussa, south of Naxos, was a completely rebuilt ancient temple. The temple, made using artifacts from various eras, covers an area of some 30 square meters. A Byzantine icon was found inside the temple.

By last night, some 50 artifacts had been recorded by experts but archaeologists told Kathimerini that it was unclear how long it would take to register all of them.

“It is a huge area and wherever we turn, we find ancient objects either hidden or being used openly for decoration,” an archaeologist who preferred not to be named told Kathimerini. He said the collection had a very high value.

Police believe that the artifacts are related in some way to the collection of Robin Symes, an antiquities dealer from London. Symes was involved in a two-year legal battle with the family of his business partner Christos Michailidis, who died in 1999.

The family won the right to half of the collection. Police believe the house in Schoinousa previously belonged to Symes and Michailidis.


6 posted on 04/15/2006 7:02:04 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=68741

KATHIMERINI English Edition

Artifacts police digging deeper

Locals on the island of Schinousa ô where a massive collection of illegal antiquities at a villa has been uncovered ô revealed over the weekend that work on the site has been going on for some 30 years, while police are examining the possibility that it was a hub for an international smuggling ring.

Officers and archaeologists continued over the weekend to search through the hundreds of antiquities as suspicions grew that authorities may have uncovered part of major international ring trading in illegal antiquities, sources said.

Residents of the island, south of Naxos, told Skai TV that construction at the vast villa complex has been almost constant for the last three decades. Aerial photos obtained by Skai TV show that the villa is in a cove and is surrounded by huge walls and guard dogs.

Sources said that the questioning of two suspects in connection with another case last month, when police seized illegal antiquities in two homes on the island of Paros, led them to Schinousa.

One of the homes belonged to Marion True, a former curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, who is on trial in Rome over objects allegedly stolen from Italy.

Sources said the villa in Schinousa was being used by Despina Papadimitriou, the sister of the late Christos Michailidis, an antiquities dealer and a member of a wealthy shipping family. Papadimitriou lives in London.


7 posted on 04/17/2006 10:18:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1494372.cms

The Times of India

Stolen Lord Vishnu's statue sent back home

[ Tuesday, April 18, 2006 10:07:56 amPTI ]

NEW YORK: A stolen 9th century stone idol with carvings of all ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu began its journey back home to be reinstalled in Varaha temple in Mandsour in Madhya Pradesh from where it was chipped off six years ago.

A happy Indian Consul-General Neelam Deo and a satisfied Special Agent in charge of investigation at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Martin D Ficke signed the papers at a brief ceremony on Monday, formally handing it over to India.

This was one of the two idols stolen, the search for the other is still on. Despite its tortuous journey to New York, the 127 cm tall and 71 cm wide idol is in good condition with only a mark at the back from where it might have been chipped off.

The recovery was described by Indian and US officials as the "fruitful" result of coordinated investigations carried out in India and the United States.

"The government and people of India greatly appreciate this gesture of goodwill from the government and people of the United States," Deo said.

When someone loots or steals a cultural artifact from a country, that country loses a part of its identity and its heritage. "Today, we are able to return the Varhaha idol to the government and people of India and restore a part of its cultural heritage that had been stolen from her," Ficke commented as he signed the papers.

Senior Special Agent James McAndrew, who investigated the case, said the probe led the investigators to Namkha Dorjee, owner of the Bodh Citta Gallery, who was operating from his apartment in New York.

Once agents closed in, he voluntarily surrendered the statue. McAndrew said that it was particularly difficult to investigate the undocumented artifacts and a great deal depends on the way the theft is investigated in the home country.

No arrest has yet been made in the United States as crime could not be pinned on any individual, officials said. The statue was originally destined for Switzerland but then was diverted to Britain and papers were altered somewhere along the journey.

The person who was responsible for sending it from Britain to the United States was reportedly killed in Afghanistan some time ago.

He was apparently trying to smuggle out that country's heritage, American investigators said. It was only in 2003 that ICE received information from the Indian police and Interpol that the statue was in the United States which ultimately led to its seizure.

Copyright ©2006 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service


8 posted on 04/18/2006 9:50:01 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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